00003
It was in cellblock C I saw the most disturbing, saddening thing in my life. I worked in a psychiatric hospital as a teenager. It was in the middle of a great pine forest, five miles out of town. The old Victorian red-bricked building sat seemingly crouched over in the moonlight, almost like the people contained in it. The inside had been refinished, and the hallway floors were plain white tiles, always shined and newly waxed. The walls and ceiling were painted a similar colour, as we're the doors. The hallways were always quiet and eery, the wind pushing on the outside of the house making the indoor isolation more real than anything. I worked as an apprentice nurse, getting minimum pay. I was the apprentice of Dr. Conley, a tall, skinny, pale man with a black curly cap of hair on his thin head. His huge blue eyes popped out of his skull, and his thin lips always sat straight, I had never seen them bend- up or down. He seemed like many of the patients there, and I had developed theories that he was actually a patient, and had stolen a doctor's clothes and information, taking on his identity. The doctor had not shown up one day, and I sat in the staff room with another nurse. She looked at me, and said:"looks like he's not coming in today. You can help me out today, just take this bag up to cellblock C and give them to Dr. Hartman," I sat up off the leather couch and put my coffee and purse down. "Alright. Want me to come back here after?" "Yes please," she responded, and ate her breakfast. I had never been to cellblock C, me and Dr. Conley stuck to cellblock A, which was more of a ward then a cellblock. The patients there only had mild schizophrenia or other delusional diseases, but were still very functional. We only gave them medication, or gave them company, nothing more. We sometimes had to calm one down, but that was rare- we only had to 3 times in the 2 years I worked in that cellblock. I made my way to cellblock 3, not knowing what to expect. I climbed down the steps, my shoes clicking on each step, echoing up the stairwell, each one like a click of a heart. I got to the door and swiped my card through the slot, the door making a big click sound that was louder than my shoes, seemingly echoing through the whole hospital. I heaved the big metal door to the side, and stepped into the hallway of cellblock C. I looked down both sides of the hallway, which were white like the rest of the cellblocks, but this one had huge white sliding doors every few meters on both sides, with big circular windows. They each took a card to open, similar to the one I just walked through. I slid the door behind me shut and finally looked at the package in my right hand. It was a white paper bag, with nothing printed on it. I squeezed it lightly with my left hand to find out what it contained, and felt a bundle of thin, tall cylinders. 'Needles' I thought to myself, and looked back down each hallway. The one on the left ended with an exit sign pointing to the same side the staircase I came down was on. The right side ended with a big sliding door, with a small sign above it. I assumed it was the doctor's office, an headed toward it. Walking down the hallway, my shoes clicked at every step, making the same atmosphere as the stairwell. Walking down the hallways always put me in a trance. I felt like I was sliding foreword through space, and felt completely safe and secure despite my surroundings. It was a very odd thing, and it puzzled me sometimes. I arrived at the door, and looked through the square window in the middle of it. There was a dark wood desk with a green felt desktop, with metal tanks and a miniature canadian flag post sitting on it, but no doctor. I looked at the package and slid my card through the slot. This door clicked exactly like the other, and I walked into the room. The room felt warm, and the air smelt of Calone, unlike the rest of the hospital which was very cold and smelt of chlorine and cleaning products. There were awards on the walls, and shelves with pictures of an old man with his family. I set the bag on the desk, the needles clunking together as I laid it down. I turned and walked back out the door. I turned and slid the door shut, hearing it lock with a click. I turned and saw a person standing in the middle of the hallway, stiff like a pencil. It was Dr. Conley. He had his key-card in his hand, though he wasn't wearing his uniform. He wore a untied straightjacket, and had white pants on. His hair was kept as always, and his face was clear and white as stone. He stood there, staring at me, motionless. I stayed still, frozen in shock. The hall seemed to scream out at us silently, and the fluorescent lights shined out on the white scene motionlessly. His figure disturbed the white hallway, and stood out as if he was right in front of me. Then he grinned at me. It was a morbid, evil grin. His teeth shined at me and seemed to leer at me like he did. Then a second later he turned to the side and walked into an open door beside him, and it snapped closed behind him. I stood there for a minute, then ran down the hallway looking in windows to find him. Each one was a padded room, each patient with a straightjacket like his and with the same white pants as him. After looking for about 5 minutes, I gave up and went back to the staff room, dismissing it as my imagination. I never heard from him again, or heard of him again other then seeing his name on the patients list.